By many accounts, 2016 sucked. Sure, there were plenty of good things that happened, and tons of incredible live music for sure, but the number of rock icons we lost last year was staggering. Prince, David Bowie, Leon Russel, Bernie Worrell, Glenn Frey, Sharon Jones, Leonard Cohen and the list goes on. Yea, 2016 was a tough one to swallow.

Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule took New Years Eve as an opportunity to pay tribute to all their (and our) heroes who passed away in the last year and give a final “fuck you” to 2016. After a traditional first set, Mule multiplied in size and welcomed Marc Quiñones, Chronic Horns, Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers for the rest of the show. As they had the night before, Marcus King and Jimmy Vivino joined for some smoking guitar action at the end of the show.

The only other band that could have pulled this type of tribute off is Widespread Panic. Gov’t Mule is a living, breathing rock and roll songbook and has covered and/or played with every musician they payed tribute to last night. They kicked off the second set with a spine-chilling “Maggot Brain > Auld Lang Syne” that wasn’t your typical joyous, party-themed song to ring in the new year. The somber note gave way to a decidedly more upbeat tribute to long-time friend and collaborator Bernie Worrell with Parliament’s “Flashlight.”

The Chronic Horns and Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers gave Mule all the tools to pull off this incredible tribute set. Marcus King and Jimmy Vivino provided extra guitar fire power on the Bowie and Prince covers at the end of the set and encore.

Check out the full setlist after the videos. A huge shoutout to Sean Roche for the great video footage!

Funny Little Tragedy

Child of the Earth

Brighter Days

Flashlight

Tight Rope > Delta Lady

Take It Easy

Midnight Rider

Hallelujah

Mama Tried

Shining Star

All The Young Dudes > Rebel Rebel

Kiss > Let’s Go Crazy

Purple Rain > All the Young Dudes (Reprise)

Set 1:
New Year’s Eve (Warren Solo)
Larger Than Life
Thorazine Shuffle >
Funny Little Tragedy > with Message In A Bottle lyrics
Thorazine Shuffle Reprise
Child Of The Earth
Which Way Do We Run
Brighter Days
Birth Of The Mule with Oz Noy; Hottentot tease
Sco-Mule with Oz Noy; Smoke On The Water tease

Set 2:
Maggot Brain > with Marc Quiñones & Chronic Horns; Auld Lang Syne theme
Flash Light with Marc Quiñones, Chronic Horns, Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers; First time played
Red Hot Mama with Marc Quiñones, Chronic Horns, Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers; First time played
Tight Rope with Marc Quiñones, Chronic Horns, Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers; First time played
Delta Lady with Marc Quiñones, Chronic Horns, Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers
Take It Easy with Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers; First time played
Already Gone > with Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers; First time played
100 Days, 100 Nights with Chronic Horns, Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers; First time played
Midnight Rider with Marc Quiñones, Chronic Horns, Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers
Lucky Man > with Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers; First time played
Hallelujah without Matt Abts & Jorgen Carlsson
Bird On A Wire with Chronic Horns,, Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers
Angel Band > with Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers
Mama Tried with Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers; First time played
Shining Star > with Marc Quiñones, Chronic Horns, Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers; First time played
Getaway with Marc Quiñones, Chronic Horns, Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers; First time played
Descending with Marc Quiñones,
All The Young Dudes with Jimmy Vivino, Chronic Horns, Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers; First time played
Rebel Rebel with Jimmy Vivino & Marc Quiñones; First time played
Kiss with Jimmy Vivino, Marc Quiñones, Chronic Horns, Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers; First time played
Let’s Go Crazy with Jimmy Vivino, Marc Quiñones, Chronic Horns, Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers; First time played

Encore:
Purple Rain with Marcus King, Jimmy Vivino, Marc Quiñones, Chronic Horns, Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers; First time played
All The Young Dudes (Reprise) with Marcus King, Jimmy Vivino, Marc Quiñones, Chronic Horns, Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers; First time played

Chronic Horns (Pam Fleming, Jenny Hill & Buford O’Sullivan)
Jasmine Muhammad & The Sweet ’16 Singers (Tamara Jade, Tesia Kwarteng)

Photo credit: Derek McCabe